Waking Up Western Swing : Asleep at the Wheel Is a Driving Force Behind Refueling the Style

“Ladies and gentlemen, western swing ain’t dead--it’s Asleep at the Wheel.”

That’s the line used at concerts to introduce the group Asleep at the Wheel, and it’s not far from the truth. For nearly three decades, guitarist-vocalist Ray Benson and whoever happens to be in the group with him at the time (there have been more than 80 personnel changes throughout the years) have been preserving and revitalizing western swing.

Popularized 60 years ago by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, western swing has come in recent times to be curated almost single-handedly by Benson and company, as they tour the world and release an album every few years. Asleep at the Wheel appears for local fans Monday at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana.

The group’s latest release is something of a live “greatest hits” and reunion album all rolled into one. “Back to the Future Now” features such signature tunes as Louis Jordan’s “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens,” “Miles and Miles of Texas,” “Ida Red” and Wills’ “Roly Poly,” performed with such alumni as steel guitarist Lucky Oceans, drummer-guitarist Leroy Preston and the McGuire Sisters on vocals.

The band is touring to promote the album--its 20th release--with the current lineup including Benson, drummer Dave Sanger, steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, saxophonist Michael Francis, bassist Dave Miller, fiddler-mandolinist Jason Roberts and pianist-fiddler Chris Booher. Also appearing for a limited time with the group is Los Angeles-based singer Rosie Flores.

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“What I wanted to do this time was make a live record of all the songs that have come to be identified with us over the last 27 years, with the people who were identified with the songs,” said Benson in a recent phone interview. “The records a lot of these songs were on are out of print. Then I wanted to add the new people and do some new things because we have been described by a lot of people as our forte being the live show. We’ve been on the road for 25 years, and a lot of people like us live. I’m not gonna dispute that--it just might even have some merit.”

Formed in Paw Paw, W.V., in 1970, the group was originally one of those bands that prevailed during the era, in the mold of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Throughout the years, though, the group has metamorphosed into a legitimate institution that takes the task of preserving western swing quite seriously.

“That’s very true, and I’d like to add that the process has not been totally conscious,” said Benson, 46. “A lot of that has been opportunities presented, and the press kind of latched onto that aspect of what we do. I used to say we were a hippie country rock band that was into roots. Unlike the Flying Burrito Brothers, we were into Hank Williams and Merle Haggard and Jimmie Rodgers.

“We were also into country blues stuff like Mississippi John Hurt. After a while, we figured out that all that stuff we really liked came back to Bob Wills and the whole western swing thing, so we started doing that early on. People started associating us more with that than the other stuff.

“It’s like, ‘Tag--you’re it!’ ” Benson said, chuckling. “I somehow wound up being the guy carrying the flame for Bob Wills. A friend of mine from Texas asked me how does a guy from Pennsylvania [Benson was raised outside Philadelphia] get to do this, and I said, ‘Look--I just played the music I loved and did it well.’ Doing it well is why we’re still doing it. I listen to the Bob Wills stuff we’ve done, and I know damn well it sounds good.”

Wills was the undisputed king of western swing when he exploded on the musical scene in the 1930s, and he wore the crown comfortably until his death in 1975. The Texas Playboys’ sound might have been hallmarked by fiddles and steel guitars rather than roaring horn sections, but Wills’ band swung with all the muscle and authority of the Count Basie or Benny Goodman orchestras.

“There was a whole cast of characters,” said Benson. “Essentially, these were white Texans, Oklahomans, Arkansans and other Southwestern musicians. They listened to Bessie Smith, Emmett Miller and the ragtime jazz of the ‘20s. But they used their own instruments to adapt the music. It was hot music, played for dances, and they combined that with fiddle tunes and breakdowns.

“That’s what Bob Wills really did. The reason I really love his music is because it was totally funky. His musicianship, the caliber of what he was doing--he was funky on purpose. By funky, I mean down and dirty, gutbucket, blues. He understood the whole genre and mood of black music. I’ve always said some of the best music is white people playing black music. It’s a neat combination, and that’s what Bob Wills did.” Fueled by Benson’s buoyant, jazzy guitar licks, the group does recall the Wills sound, although it’s updated enough for contemporary audiences not to feel like they’re at a traveling museum show rather than a concert.

The inevitable, seemingly endless comparisons to Wills bothered Benson for some time, but, eventually, he learned to live with the association and even thrive by it. Now that a few younger bands such as Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys and the U.K.’s BR549 are making forays of their own into western swing, the group isn’t alone out there anymore.

“For a time in the ‘70s, I tried to get away from it, tried to do anything but western swing,” said Benson. “But there was something about it, I just wanted to play it and do it, and people wanted to hear me playing it and doing it. I love it. I guess you could say I’m as happy as can be being in debt to Bob Wills.”

* Asleep at the Wheel plays Monday at the Crazy Horse Steak House, 1580 Brookhollow Drive in Santa Ana. Show time: 7 and 10 p.m. $24.50. (714) 549-1512.